As you probably know, I am a prolific consumer of gaming podcasts.  And just in the last week, two new ones have hit the "air", The State of Games and Lugology.  And best of all, after just one episode each, I would already rank them both among the best in the hobby!


First up is The State of Games, which stars Chris Kirkman and his wife Cherilyn.  Chris runs the excellent blog Dice Hate Me, and this podcast is mostly an outgrowth of that and a desire to talk about games with Cherilyn.  They are both very well-spoken and have great chemistry, with Chris having a deep knowledge about boardgaming and Cherilyn bringing a relatively new gamer's perspective to the table, so find them very entertaining and easy to listen to. 

More importantly, though, they've already shown that this podcast is going to be more than just another series of game news segments, play logs, and reviews.  Instead, they're going to delve into some of the deeper topics surrounding gaming, beginning with the sensitive topic of race and racial stereotypes.

Chris and Cherilyn are also relatively local to me, so I've met him a couple of times and even got to game with both of them last Saturday, which is also really cool.

Definitely go and check out their first episode!
 


If you're a regular listener to the How to Play podcast, you probably heard host Ryan Sturm talk with Geoff Engelstein in Episode G about the evolution of board game mechanics.  Well, the two of them enjoyed that discussion so much that they've just kicked off another podcast venture with Ludology. 

The name really tells what the show is all about - the study of games.  So again, and even more so than on The State of Games, this show is going to only cover discussions about the nature, characteristics, and community of and surrounding games. 

Just to show how, well, scientific they plan to be, the first show is about defining what exactly is a game.  It is incredibly thoughtful and interesting, and the biggest issue I have with it right now is trying to decide which particular elements of it I might want to respond to in one or more blog posts!

One really cool other thing is the announcement that the How to Play and Ludology podcasts will be partnering with The Dice Tower (the venerable and most-popular boardgame podcast, just in case you didn't know) to form a loose network of cross-promotion and cooperation.  I was just thinking the other day how few podcasts seem to play promos for other podcasts anymore (which used to be pretty common), even among the "other" podcast network (Pulp Gamer).  I'm really excited about this new network, and hope that it will continue to raise the bar of excellence even among these top-notch podcasts.